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Joseph Cheshire Cotten (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American actor of stage and film. He is best remembered for his association with Orson Welles, which led to appearances in Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay, and The Third Man (1949). Cotten first achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He became a recognizable Hollywood star in his own right with films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Portrait of Jennie (1948).
[edit] Biography and career[edit] Early life and careerCotten was born in Petersburg, Virginia, the son of Sallie Bartlett (née Wilson) and Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., who was an assistant postmaster.[1][2][3] Cotten worked as an advertising agent after attending the Washington, D.C., Hickman School of Speech and Expression, where he studied acting. His work as a theatre critic inspired him to become more involved in theatre productions, first in Virginia, and later in New York. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930, and soon befriended up-and-coming actor/director/producer Orson Welles. In 1937, he joined Welles' Mercury Theatre Company, starring in productions of Julius Caesar and Shoemaker's Holiday. Cotten made his film debut in the Welles-directed short Too Much Johnson, a comedy based on William Gillette's 1890 play. The short was occasionally screened before or after Mercury productions, but never received an official release. Before acting in this film, Cotten (who had played center on a semiprofessional football team while living in Washington in 1923) got into good physical shape by working out at the Waple Studio of Physical Culture in Alexandria, Virginia. Cotten returned to Broadway in 1939, starring as C.K. Dexter Haven in the original production of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story as well as the 1953 production of Sabrina Fair. [edit] Citizen Kane After the success of Welles's War of the Worlds 1938 Halloween radio broadcast, Welles gained a unique contract with RKO Pictures. The two-picture deal promised full creative control for the young director below an agreed budget limit, and Welles intention was to feature the Mercury players in his productions. Shooting had still not begun on a Welles film after a year, but after a meeting with writer Herman J. Mankiewicz Welles had a suitable project. In mid-1940 filming began on Citizen Kane, portraying the life of a press magnate (played by Welles) who starts out as an idealist but eventually turns into a corrupt, lonely old man. The film featured Cotten prominently in the role of Kane's best friend Jedediah Leland, eventually a drama critic for one of Kane's papers. When released on May 1, 1941, Citizen Kane - based in part on the life of William Randolph Hearst - did not do much business at theaters; Hearst owned numerous major newspapers, and forbade them to carry advertisements for the film. Nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1942, the film won only for Best Screenplay, for Mankiewicz and Welles. The film helped launch the careers of many Mercury players, including Agnes Moorehead (who played Kane's mother), Ruth Warrick (Kane's first wife), and Ray Collins (Kane's political opponent). However, Cotten was the only one of the four to find major success (as a lead) in Hollywood outside of Citizen Kane. Moorehead and Collins became successful character film actors. [edit] Later collaborations with Welles Despite Welles' reputation for being difficult to get along with, the two men remained good friends. Cotten starred a year later in Welles' adaptation and production of The Magnificent Ambersons. After the commercial disappointment of Citizen Kane, RKO was apprehensive about the new film, and after poor preview responses, cut it by nearly an hour before its release. Though at points the film appeared disjointed, it was well received by critics. Despite the critical accolades Cotten received for his performance, he was again snubbed by the Academy. In 1941, Cotten took control of the Nazi-related thriller Journey Into Fear (released in 1943). He wrote the screenplay with the help of Welles (who produced the film), and starred in the film with Dolores del Río. By the time production wrapped, Welles had been dropped from RKO, and, as part of the settlement, was required to edit the film to suitable length. The film was a minor hit, but the two friends did not collaborate professionally during the next six years. In The Third Man (1949), Cotten portrays a writer of pulp fiction who travels to post-war Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime (Welles). When he arrives, he discovers that Lime has died, and is determined to prove to the police that it was murder, but uncovers an even darker secret. [edit] The 1940s and 1950sCotten proved himself a versatile actor in Hollywood following Citizen Kane. The characters he played onscreen during this period ranged from a serial killer in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943, opposite Teresa Wright) to an eager police detective in Gaslight (1944, with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer and in her film debut, Angela Lansbury). Cotten starred with Jennifer Jones in four films: the wartime domestic drama Since You Went Away (1944), the romantic drama Love Letters (1945), the western Duel in the Sun (1946) and later the critically acclaimed Portrait of Jennie (1948), in which he played a melancholy artist who becomes obsessed with a girl who may have died many years ago. He reunited with Hitchcock at the end of the decade in Under Capricorn (1949) as an Australian land-owner with a shady past. Cotten's career cooled in the 1950s with a string of less high-profile roles in films such as the dark Civil War epic Two Flags West (1950), the Joan Fontaine romance September Affair (also 1950), and the Marilyn Monroe vehicle, Niagara (1953), after James Mason turned down the role. His last theatrical releases in the '50s were mostly film-noir outings and unsuccessful character studies. In 1956, Cotten left film for several years in exchange for a string of successful television ventures, such as the NBC series On Trial, renamed at midseason The Joseph Cotten Show. Cotten was also featured in the successful series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Ronald Reagan's General Electric Theater. Near the end of the decade he made a cameo appearance in Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) and a starring role in the film adaptation of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (also 1958). He also appeared as Dick Burlingame and Charles Lawrence in the 1960 episodes "The Blue Goose" and "Dark Fear" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He also appeared on NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show. [edit] Listen to[edit] The 1960s and 1970sIn 1960, he married British actress Patricia Medina, after his first wife, Lenore Kipp, died of leukemia earlier in the year. After some time away from film, Cotten returned in the horror classic Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), with Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Agnes Moorehead. The rest of the decade found Cotten in a number of forgettable B-movies, foreign productions and TV movies. He made guest appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show many times throughout the show's run. In the early 1970s, Cotten followed a supporting role in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), with several horror features: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), with Vincent Price, and Soylent Green (1973). Later in the decade, Cotten was featured in several all-star disaster films, including Airport '77 (1977) with James Stewart and again with Olivia de Havilland and the nuclear thriller Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977). On television, he did a guest spot on The Rockford Files in 1974. [edit] Last yearsOne of Cotten's last films was Heaven's Gate (1980), critically mauled in the United States. Around the same time, he appeared with Hollywood star Gloria Grahame in a twist-in-the-tale episode of the British TV series, Tales of the Unexpected (1980). The 75-year-old actor retired with his wife to their home in Westwood, California. In 1987, Cotten published a popular autobiography, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere. He died on February 6, 1994, of pneumonia, a complication of throat cancer at the age of 88, leaving behind his wife and stepdaughter. He was buried at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia. [edit] LegacyCotten was never nominated for an Academy Award, despite his immense body of work, including many films now considered classics. The only notable acting award Cotten received throughout his career was a Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his work in Portrait of Jennie. [edit] Quotation
[edit] Filmography[edit] Further reading
[edit] References[edit] External links
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